ABIDJAN, Cote d'Ivoire - Forces loyal to Cote d'Ivoire presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara seized two towns in the heart of the western cocoa belt overnight, in an offensive that may enable them to move toward a major port.

Witnesses and fighters from both sides said on Tuesday that the former rebels, who have controlled northern Cote d'Ivoire since the civil war of 2002-2003, had seized Daloa from incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo's troops.

They also took Duekoue, potentially opening up a route to the major exporting port of San Pedro.

The area they now control produces about 600,000 tons of cocoa a year, half of Cote d'Ivoire's output.

A violent dispute over last November's presidential election that UN-certified results showed Ouattara won, but which Gbagbo refuses to concede, has rekindled the civil war it was meant to settle for good, with heavy fighting in the main city Abidjan and across much of a north-south cease-fire line.

Up to 1 million Ivorians have now fled fighting in Abidjan alone, according to the UN refugee agency. Others have been uprooted across the country and around 100,000 have crossed into Liberia to the west.

A source in the pro-Gbagbo military said Daloa and Duekoue had fallen, but fighting continued in parts of

Duekoue.

"The combat was very violent in Daloa the whole night, but we couldn't keep our positions," he said.

Daloa is sympathetic to Ouattara and Duekoue is mixed, yet many of the areas surrounding them are hostile and teeming with pro-Gbabgo militias, which could make the march south tough.

Pro-Ouattara forces have already seized four towns in the west and Gbagbo's forces fear that if they capture enough, they will be able to march south to the port of San Pedro.

Reuters